
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 31, 1995                   TAG: 9505310078
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SMOKERS STILL PUFF SUSPECT CIGARETTES

Smokers on Tuesday ignored Philip Morris USA's warnings about tainted Marlboro, Virginia Slims and other cigarettes, and delays in impounding suspect smokes kept many on store shelves five days into a nationwide recall.

Possibly defective filters could cause eye, nose and throat irritation, dizziness, coughing and wheezing or just leave a bad taste in the mouth, the largest U.S. tobacco company said Friday in announcing the recall of about 8 billion cigarettes.

``I've never met a cigarette that didn't make me do that anyway. I thought that's what they were for,'' said Chris Edwards, a bond trader in Albany, N.Y., who smokes Marlboro Lights. Like many others contacted randomly by The Associated Press, Edwards said he doesn't plan to return the cigarettes.

The long holiday weekend delayed company representatives dispatched to collect suspect cigarettes from 330,000 retailers. While more than half the stock had been pulled from shelves as of Tuesday, some store owners said they would continue selling the cigarettes until contacted by the tobacco company.

Many smokers have concluded that the temporary symptoms don't sound that harmful and are lighting up anyway.

``It didn't sound like a big deal. I assume the ones I bought are safe,'' Christine Santos, 22, said in Providence, R.I.

Once a company representative collects the cigarettes, the store is given a display poster proclaiming there are no suspect cigarettes in stock.

Smokers can take their cigarettes back to any store that sells the same brand for a refund. Philip Morris is reimbursing store owners.

Some retailers said they wouldn't stop selling the affected cigarettes until they get a visit from a Philip Morris representative.

Philip Morris said a chemical known as a plasticizer, which strengthens the filters, formed an irritant known as methyl isothiocyanate when it interacted with the filter. The company has said the plasticizer was contaminated at the supplier, Hoechst Celanese of Somerville, N.J.

Hoechst, a division of German chemical conglomerate Hoechst AG, said it hasn't been able to find any evidence it contributed to the problem.

Hoechst spokeswoman Connie Fuller said the plasticizer is made at its plant in Concord, N.C., and that the cigarette recall would not affect operations at the Hoechst plant at Narrows. That Giles County plant, which employs about 1,950 workers, makes "tow," or fibers of which cigarette filters are composed.

by CNB